Is your favorite Beaumont bar still open?

At times, it feels like George R.R. Martin writes the fate of many Southeast Texas nightlife venues — your favorite bar is one unexpected beheading away from being another locally owned business we used to love.

Since it’s difficult to keep track of which businesses are still going and which have quietly closed, let’s address some popular rumors — then get back to frequenting some of our best (and currently open) establishments.

Koi Japanese Sushi Bar & LoungeStatus: OpenWhere: 3350 Dowlen Road, BeaumontInfo: (409) 299-8759; koisushibeaumont.com
When Calvary Baptist Church swallowed up the adjacent Tuscany Park shopping center, we said a tearful goodbye to Goodfella’s and waited for the rest of the tenants to put up their closed signs. But two years later, Koi is still serving wine, tasty martinis and a killer crabacado salad.

Koi’s serene atmosphere makes it the perfect choice for a quiet happy hour conversation, defying the local tradition of hosting live music by instead setting the mood with soft lighting and inventive decor. Test their happy hour on Mondays when it lasts all day long, and grab a Pear Flower while you’re at it.

The RiverStatus: Closed — temporarily (sort of)Where: 3871 Stagg Dr., Beaumont
It’s only been a year since Whiskey River closed, renovated its space and re-opened as the River. Plans for the revamped River included an adjacent restaurant that never came to fruition, but now the River is no more — and the space is undergoing renovations again.

It sometimes takes an outsider’s perspective to reveal your own city’s beauty. During the days of The Back Room, a cozy live music venue hidden in the back of Whiskey, indie bands of all genres would step out of the dimly lit Back Room, into the bright lights of the two-steppin’ dance floor, and would instantly fall in love. Through their eyes, we saw the beauty of twirling couples drinking Bud Light, the smell of wood and the salted dance floor. It’s a sense of wonder we still maintain to this day, even when Whiskey’s folksy boomtown stage decorations were torn down to accommodate the River’s LED lights and steel stars.

According to Facebook posts, the stage and back wall of the River — which separated it from the Back Room — were torn out last week, significantly opening up the space.

Roy Etie, the venue’s owner, tells us the new club will be less honky-tonk and more food oriented.

SpeakeasyStatus: OpenWhere: 711 Procter St., Port ArthurInfo: (409) 982-1700
Port Arthur’s favorite Mardi Gras bar is, in fact, open throughout the year. After a short drive through the Port Arthur main street that could have been, walking into Speakeasy is like a breath of fresh air.

A beautiful chandelier, mirrors on every wall and the kind of bartender who makes you an original drink on every visit? Yes, please. Even with many obvious obstacles, Speakeasy continues to draw a regular crowd, as well as plenty of private fundraiser bookings.

If you want to see Speakeasy at its busiest, come on Ladies’ Night every Thursday. Happy hour specials are offered from 7 to 11 p.m. and include half-priced chicken wings. Mixed drinks are $2 off and beer is $1 off. Make sure to ask bartender Nikki Rivers to invent a cocktail on the spot — you won’t regret it.

PaceSetterStatus: ClosedWhere: 6358 Phelan Blvd., Beaumont
The PaceSetter will always hold a place in our heart as the kind of bar so low-key and awesome, its bartenders were either behind the bar or chilling in front of it on their days off.

We weren’t surprised to see the PaceSetter’s final closing notice; part of us suspected the bar only re-opened to generously employ those who were left jobless during the West’s hiatus. Still, this popular nightlife spot had been around for decades, under various ownership, and we always appreciated this particular hidey-hole.

(Insert your own Pacemaker joke here.)

All jokes aside, keep an eye on this spot because our sources tell us something else is coming along soon.

While we won’t hypothesize about the reasons for its closing, we can all agree that this bar left a hole in the local live music scene. In fact, to many traveling bands, this bar was Beaumont — it may have been all they saw of town while passing through, and it felt enough like home to keep them coming back.

Our favorite days at Tequila Rok were the short-lived “Hate Free Tuesdays,” when $1 drinks, drag shows and a sense of community gave us a taste of a different kind of Beaumont — a sweeter, more inclusive one. Before closing this spring, Tequila Rok had picked up Star Bar’s massive Thursday college night crowds and had became the primary local music venue for independent touring bands.

What’s next for this Crockett venue? Food, craft beer and sports, said Danny Molina, who manages Crockett Street.

“It’ll be basically a seven-day-a-week type deal, more of a bar than a club,” he said.

Construction on the bar is scheduled to begin later this month, but Molina said it’s too early to say when the new bar will open — or what it’ll be called.

It will serve a different menu than Zydeco Louisiana Diner, he said, but Zydeco will help out on the food front.

“It’ll be a lot more like what Bobby McGee’s used to be,” Molina said.

Beth Rankin contributed to this report@aomegajones on Twitter & Instagram